


For want of a nail

by NatalieRyan



Series: Whumptober 2020 [6]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Day 6, Gen, Hurt Jack, Jack Whump, Panic Attack, Whump, Whumptober 2020, just another day in these boys' lives, nail to the thigh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:08:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26865658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NatalieRyan/pseuds/NatalieRyan
Summary: Jack gets shot. In the thigh. By a nail gun.
Relationships: Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Series: Whumptober 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948579
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	For want of a nail

**Author's Note:**

  * For [N1ghtshade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/N1ghtshade/gifts), [SabbyStarlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SabbyStarlight/gifts).



> The idea for this story was born when I was talking to SabbyStarlight about nails and nail guns and her suggestions were nail to the thigh for Jack if I ever went down that road, or hand for Mac. I thought that I should go with the Jack route, and give my boy some respite (not so much because he's going to panic a lil' bit in this one), but you know what I mean *muahahaha*  
> Thank you to N1ghtshade for the beta and the title.  
> TW: Mac briefly panics, nothing too explicit.  
> Special thanks to impossiblepluto for helping me with the medical thingy I needed for this fic as well as sending me that video. Super helpful as always, thank you Pluto :**  
> Happy reading!

Jack wished for someone to just come up to him and tell him when things were going to go sideways. Because he wanted to avoid work on those days. Better yet, he would have avoided getting out of bed on those days. He sometimes wondered if the Cairo curse worked on other days as well. 

Don't get him wrong, he felt better when they saved the world and he had a hand in it. And he always preferred to be the one hurt, because whenever one of his kids got hurt, it hurt him more. 

Right now, they were approaching the warehouse their intel told them was the place where their target was located. Victor Tyson was a drug dealer on the payroll for the La Ola cartel that carried out their hits and it was crucial for him to be caught alive so they could learn more about the cartel's movements. 

They were all tense and it all transferred and blended into Jack who tightened his hands on the wheel, the plastic creaking under his grip. The edge of what they'd find or how to approach was killing them all, having too much information was never good because it mostly led to glossing over and getting them screwed over. But too little information was just as dangerous. They didn't know what they were getting into and they had to proceed with caution. 

Bozer and Riley stayed in the car to coordinate their entry and to guide them through the warehouse, as Jack, Mac and Desi approached the warehouse. 

In hindsight, Jack should have known that bad things always happened when he and Mac got separated on missions. But he sent him off with Desi, and she was the person he trusted the most to keep Mac safe on the field and they could cover more ground if Jack was to go in guns blazing and Mac was off somewhere making whatever it was that could get them out of there.

And Jack cursed himself for jinxing it, because when he got inside the warehouse, it was eerily quiet. There was only an occasional whooshing sound coming from the center of the room, but Jack proceeded with caution. There could be more people hiding outside. 

The warehouse was located close to the port so they suspected that the drug ring was run from there, and now they might be able to prove it. Provided they got Victor. 

There was only one person in the middle of the room, closing a crate when Jack approached him from behind. He couldn't tell without seeing his face, but he was sure it was their target. 

Several things happened in the next moment. The whooshing sound came right back in and Jack belatedly realized that it came from a nail gun that Victor used to close the crate. Then Victor turned around and pointed the nail gun at him. Jack had no time to turn away from it, just as the gun clicked and the whooshing sound was followed by a nail that ended up in his thigh. 

Jack dropped down on the floor, hard, but not before he squeezed the trigger on his gun and he shot in the air as he couldn't see where Victor was. He was faintly aware of the sounds of steps retreating in the distance, but he focused on trying to breathe through the pain. It was overwhelming him in the worst of ways. His leg was pulsing and he could hear his own pulse thudding in his ears, drowning out the sounds of voices, one that was undoubtedly Mac's. He couldn't respond and tell them that Victor escaped or that he shot him. Or was it 'nailed him' the correct term? 

Jack would laugh if he could, but breathing was a really hard task right now. 

His vision was blurring as his eyes filled with tears of pain. A gunshot wound or a stab wound would have been better in this scenario. Well, the best would be if he didn't get hurt, but that was beside the point now.

He just slumped back against one of the crates and hoped that his team would not hold it against him for being unable to go after their target. 

... 

Mac jumped at the sound of a gun going off in the warehouse as they approached from the back and his heart seized. He somehow knew that it was Jack. He had no way to explain that feeling when his partner was hurt and Mac just knew, but he did. And the lack of answer as he and Desi both tried to get a hold of Jack told Mac that he was right. 

And then their target was running away and he was torn between going after him or going to see what happened to Jack. 

Desi must have seen the look on his face because she nodded towards the inside of the warehouse. 

"Go and see what's wrong with Dalton. I got him." 

It was all that Mac needed and he was off like a shot. His heart raced as he ran and looked for Jack. And then his eyes located Jack and there was a moment when Mac couldn't tell what was wrong. Except that Jack was sitting on the floor, his back against a wooden crate and his gun on the floor not far from where he was sitting. He seemed out of it and like he was trying to get his bearings. Mac didn't know what to do so he just skidded to a halt and went hard on the floor and as close to Jack as he could with his outstretched legs. And that's when he saw. A nail right in the middle of Jack's thigh, that if it wasn't for the top of the nail Mac wouldn't have noticed. 

_ There goes Jack's favorite pair of skinny jeans _ , Mac mused as he reached for his partner that didn't seem to notice Mac was in front of him. 

Mac tentatively took Jack's face in his hands and the unfocused look in Jack's warm brown eyes chilled him to the bone. Jack was never that unresponsive. 

Moving one hand to Jack's pulse point, Mac confirmed what he already knew. Jack's pulse was jackrabbiting and if he didn't do anything soon, Jack would go into shock and Mac wasn't about to let that happen. 

"Hey, Jack, it's me, Mac. We are going to get you out of here, okay." 

Jack reacted to the voice but he was still out of it. Mac noticed that his breathing was erratic at best and Jack's right hand was twitching next to his thigh. Maybe he meant to get to stop the bleeding, but he couldn't focus because of the pain. The most contact Mac had with nails was when he stepped on one when grandpa Harry was fixing the floorboard, and his grandpa got it out and fixed the hurt foot. But in Jack's case it was lodged in the thigh, and from what Mac could see didn't bleed much, so the most important thing for Mac at the moment was to get Jack's breathing back to normal. 

On a whim he picked Jack's hand up and placed it over his heart. Maybe the touch could be grounding. He didn't let go of Jack's hand as he focused on calming his own heart rate and breathing normally. 

"Jack, I need you to breathe with me, okay? You have to calm down." 

Mac didn't know what did it, but Jack sort of snapped out of wherever he went to and he took a shuddering breath that ended in a cough. Mac got him through it and slowly, Jack's breathing returned to normal and his heart wasn't trying to get out of his chest. 

Jack even mustered a smile before his face contorted and Mac was suddenly reminded of the nail. 

Jack removed his hand from where it was still on Mac's chest and moved to touch the area around the nail and Mac had to stop him.

"No, no, no. Leave it there." 

"It hurts. Pull it out." 

"Jack..." 

"Please... just get it out." 

Mac realized that Desi was coming to where they were sitting and she was dragging and unconscious Victor with her. A moment later Bozer and Riley came into the warehouse and there were collective gasps when they saw Mac and Jack on the floor. 

Mac closed his eyes. He tried to think. If he pulled it out, there was a risk Jack would bleed out if it hit an artery. It was very well possible that said nail was keeping Jack from bleeding like a gutted pig. And Mac couldn't in good conscience pull it out and do that to Jack. 

"I'm sorry, big guy, but I think it should stay inside." 

"Can't you just pull it out. Please... I can't..." Jack coughed. "I can't feel my leg, hoss. Can't even move. I just slumped here like an old rag." 

Mac was hurting for his partner, but there was nothing he could do except maybe put some pressure around the wound and hope for the best. 

"He can't. It's a ring shank galvanized nail so it's designed to stay put." Desi said from where she was standing on Jack's other side. 

Mac and Jack both looked at her and she snorted. 

"Dad was quite the repair man. I learned a lot while I was growing up." 

"So, if pulling it out is not the solution, then all we have to do is..." 

Mac got to work without thinking, letting the background to fade as his partner was his sole focus at the moment. He could hear Riley typing on her laptop and he felt Bozer's eyes on him, and with a short glance, Mac could see Bozer's eyes darted from him to Jack. Even after all the years, seeing his friend in the field made Mac feel like it was his fault Boze looked so uncomfortable. But he couldn't protect him from all of it forever. Besides, he didn't have to worry about hiding injuries anymore. That it meant that Bozer worried about  _ him _ double was the unsettling part. Mac hated when people worried about him. 

He opened one of the pockets on Jack's TAC vest and pulled two pieces of gauze. He tore off the package on the first one and placed it on one side of the wound, then repeated the action with the other piece of gauze on the other side of the wound. He had to be careful so the pressure won't drive the nail out and make more damage. As he worked on fixating the gauze with gauze strips and keeping Jack's leg as steady as possible, because every movement or touching the wound too much could cause more damage; he was aware that everyone looked at him like they were worried about him, and not Jack. 

Once he was done with securing Jack's leg he sat back and only then he realized his hands were shaking.

Shit. 

"Hoss, you okay?" Jack was the worried out of them all and he just didn't know why. 

"Why? I'm fine. It's you we need to worry about." 

"I'm good now, you fixed me up as much as you could." Jack even smiled at him and Mac could tell he was gearing up for something. 

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" 

"Mac, buddy, you were getting a bit lost in your head just a moment ago. You kept explaining to us what would happen if you pull the nail out of my leg and all that mumbo jumbo. Sure you are okay." 

"Of course!"

"Sorry I was whining for you to get it out. I didn't mean for you to get all like this." 

"It's okay. I was trying to think. Guess I spoke out loud, huh?" Mac tried for a chuckle, but it came out forced and he rubbed his neck self consciously since everyone was actively looking at him. It had been a while since he lost it like this in the field and he was scared about what caused it. Maybe he drank too much coffee this morning to compensate for the three hours of sleep he got last night, or maybe he worried too much that he'd mess up and hurt Jack more. 

"I'm sorry, I... I don't know what got into me." 

Mac felt something nudge his hand and when he looked down he saw it was Jack's hand reaching out for him. 

"Hey, c'mere, kid." 

Mac was confused, he didn't understand what Jack was asking him, until Jack just pulled on him and Mac ended up in Jack's embrace. 

It felt embarrassing enough to know he lost it in front of his team, but now he could feel his cheeks heat up, knowing that his team saw him at his most vulnerable, seeking comfort in the very person that needed it more than Mac did. 

Mac struggled after the brief hug and tried to squirm his way from under Jack's arm, but Jack wouldn't budge. Mac was glad their target was unconscious, though. He thought that if someone else saw him now, Mac would have lost it in a worse way. 

"Stop squirmin' ya' goof. I'm trying to hug you." 

"Jack, you... but..." 

Mac oofed when Jack squeezed him in a tighter hold and his face ended up being mushed in the junction between Jack's neck and chin. Mac finally stopped struggling and he realized that it was actually nice. You know, besides the part where they were at a warehouse that was used for shipments of drugs and he was on the floor, sitting next to Jack, trying not to get smothered by how strong Jack's grip was. For a guy that just got shot with a nail gun, Jack had a surprisingly strong grip. And Mac didn't want to admit that, but he relished in the close contact. Until his brain threw his thoughts in overdrive.

Then he remembered something else and it was like Desi read his mind. 

"We already called Matty to tell her to cancel ex fil and to get us an ambulance. And to call the hospital up front." 

"Should we ditch our TAC gear? I mean, I guess we should because-" Mac started babbling again, and Jack huffed a laugh next to his ear. 

"Hoss, you have to stop worrying. Just, they are going to arrive soon, and you don't have to worry." 

"How are you so calm?" Mac was aware that his voice gained that pitch it always did when he was worried and scared. 

"I got my five minutes of panic earlier, hoss, and you snapped me out of it if I remember well. So, I'm doing the same to you. I'm so far from calm." 

Mac chuckled at that and relaxed in Jack's grasp. 

"I just feel helpless. Useless. I can't even get you out of here." 

"Hey, hey, hey, it's not your fault that this guy was trigger happy and shot me with the nail gun. We just followed a lead, we had no idea if he'll be even here when we arrived." 

"But, I... what if I took too long to tend to the wound and... and..." 

"Shhh... You did great. Now, you hear that. Those are sirens. They are coming, Mac. It's okay." 

"Thank you, Jack." Mac sagged further into Jack's side and sighed as he fully relaxed at the notion of help arriving. 

"No, Mac. Thank you." 

...

The paramedics had to adjust to working with Mac around, because neither man would budge or let go and they actually felt intimidated by Jack's glare. They got him situated as best as possible and then they moved to get Jack to the back of the ambulance. Mac followed them, but he was stopped when he wanted to climb in the back. 

"I'm afraid you can't ride in the back, young man." The older paramedic stopped Mac in his tracks and there was a brief panic in Mac's eyes that Jack couldn't take. His kid's rope was frayed and he hoped things would end soon because Mac needed to wind down, never mind his injury and that he was the one that one would expect to be coddled. 

"What's he to you?" The other one asked Mac and Mac's lower lip trembled as he tried to come up with an answer. 

Jack thought he heard a silent "my partner", but he couldn't be sure. He also acted out on pure instinct because the kicked puppy look on Mac's face was the fastest way to get his heart to be split in two. 

"He's my son, alright?" 

He hoped he conveyed his feelings and by the way Mac just whipped his head up and looked at him with wide eyes, the kid wasn't expecting that. Neither did Jack honestly, but here they were. 

The paramedic just huffed and motioned for Mac to get inside and Mac scurried to get as close to Jack as possible. Jack extended one of his hands and Mac latched on to it immediately.

And that's how Jack knew things were going to be fine despite all the hurt and the pain. He had Mac with him and that was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts?


End file.
